A better way of counting points

A better way of counting points

1. Opening the bidding in a suit

Traditionally, points for evaluating an opening bid are counted using Milton Work’s original scheme, first published 70 years ago, whereby an Ace scores 4, a King 3, a Queen 2 and a Jack 1. [There was a predecessor to the Work count which used 7 – 5 – 3 – 1 which does overvalue Aces and is not effective for no trump bidding. I’m sure it would be possible to come up with some scheme such as 10 – 7 – 4 – 2 but who wants to be adding up to 92]. The Work count was soon found to be inadequate on distributional hands so several amendments have been made. The following three methods are widely popular:

Long-suit points

For each suit with over four cards one point is added for each card beyond the fourth. So, for example, a 6-4-2-1 hand would have two points added. 13 points are normally requited to open. So a balanced 4-3-3-3 hand with 12 points is not good enough but the same applies to 4-4-3-2.

Short-suit points

For each suit with a shortage points are added as follows:

Doubleton 1 point

Singleton 2 points

Void 3 points

So the same 6-4-2-1 hand would have three points added which seems more appropriate for such a good distribution. But a 4-4-4-1 hand would have two points added which seems too much for such a poor distribution (until a fit is found). 13 points are required to open.

Rule of 20 (or 19)

The points are added to the total length of the two longest suits. If the total is 20 or more the hand warrants an opening bid. This approach is widely used in the UK. It has the merit of simplicity but does overvalue poor distributions such as 4-4-4-1 and 5-4-2-2.

My approach

I prefer a modification of the short suit approach. The basic method does not take into account several factors. First, doubleton honours are overvalued as they are not as valuable as those in longer suits. Even A 2 is not very useful opposite Q 4 3 while J 2 is nearly worthless. So doubleton or singleton honours are counted as the higher of the HCP and short suit value but the two are not added together. So Q x counts two points, K counts three and J x counts one. I would, however count a singleton ace as five.

Secondly, aces and tens are undervalued by the point count system. Aces are worth more than 4 and tens have some value. If I have three or more aces and tens I add one point. Doubleton (or singleton) tens are not counted even when accompanied by an honour. Unsupported tens are also of limited value (i.e. 10 x x or 10 x x x) while supported tens in four card or longer suits are nearly worth a point on their own. Even nines have value when they support four card suits.

Finally, I look at the texture of the long suits. Good suits such as ©Q J 10 8 7 5 or §A Q 10 8 6 should be upgraded so that fewer than 12 (adjusted) points may be sufficient to open.

2. Opening 1NT (or 2NT) or planning to rebid in no trumps

What about balanced hands? Playing a weak no trump open 1NT with 12-14 and rebid 1NT with 15 to a flat 17. Rebid 2NT with 17 to a flat 19. Open 2NT with 20 – 22; only with a good five card suit will I upgrade a 19 point hand. So 1¨ - 1© - 3NT shows 19 points with a fair five card diamond suit or 18 points with a good six card diamond suit. I will never have secondary heart support (©Q x x or better) so partner needs a six card suit (or some shape) to correct to 4©. With a “pudding” 19 points (4-3-3-3 or 4-4-3-2) rebid 2NT. That allows partner to respond at the one level with very weak hands – I agree with Zia that passing partner’s opening bid should show a truly terrible hand and will scrape up a response on four points and a five card suit. If partner then leaps to 3NT he has punished me for my enterprise. And 4-3-3-3- hands never play very well – you need at least 7 points opposite for a good shot at game.

I also open 1NT with 5-4-2-2 when the doubletons contain minor honours unless my five card suit is a good major (two top honours). Occasionally I would consider a 6-3-2-2 distribution for 1NT with a long minor but that works better when playing a strong no trump.

With 20 – 22 points open 2 NT even with 5-4-2-2 or 6-3-2-2 unless the six card suit is a major. Hands with 5-4-3-1 and a singleton ace or king (or a queen when the five card suit is no strong) are particularly difficult to bid in natural systems. I would consider opening 2NT.

If I am considering a no trump opening I do not count short suit points but do give extra value to intermediate cards (tens, nines and eights) held in four or five card suits and also add one point if I have a good five card suit. But I do not “double count” tens held in good five card suits – they have already been valued. I devalue Q J, K J, K Q and A J doubleton. I also devalue aceless hands. So what does “devalue” mean. If the bid is borderline I make the more conservative bid (Pass with 12 points or 1NT with 15).

I normally look for 12 points to open but will pass in third or fourth in hand at unfavourable vulnerability with a barren 12.

Look at these six hands. In each case they are evaluated using all four methods.

Hand 1		Hand 2		Hand 3
ªK J 7 6 5 ©4 2 ¨A K 6 §10 7 5	Long suit 12 Short suit 12 Rule of 20 19 Moon 12	ªK J 7 6 5 ©4 ¨A K 6 5 §10 7 5	Long suit 12 Short suit 13 Rule of 20 20 Moon 13	ªJ 9 7 6 5 ©K ¨A K 6 5 §10 7 5	Long suit 12 Short suit 13 Rule of 20 20 Moon 11
This is very close to an opening 1ª bid but the suit quality is against it. All four methods say PASS but third in hand or first in hand at favourable vulnerability I would open.		This hand is better and should be opened 1ª. But the long suit method would pass.		Both the short suit and Rule of 20 think this hand is worth opening 1ª. I do not. It is good in defence but unless partner can open will go nowhere. Third in hand 1¨ (not 1ª) is OK.

Hand 4		Hand 5		Hand 6
ªK J 10 7 6 ©4 2 ¨A K 6 §10 7 5	Long suit 12 Short suit 12 Rule of 20 19 Moon 13	ªQ J 7 6 5 ©K J ¨K 6 5 2 §Q J	Long suit 14 Short suit 15 Rule of 20 22 Moon 13	ªJ 9 7 6 ©K ¨A K 6 5 §Q 10 7 5	Long suit 13 Short suit 15 Rule of 20 21 Moon 13
Here I am the only one who would open 1ª. That seems excessively conservative and I would also open the hand 1NT (adding one point for my good five card suit) if the spades were a minor. §10 is of limited value so I would probably still open 1ª (or 1NT) without it.		All four methods would open but I would treat this aceless hand as weaker than its 13 points. I would open but not be surprised to get a bad result. Playing a weak no trump I prefer 1 NT to 1ª. Such bids rarely lose points and I want the lead round to me in NT. Occasionally I will miss a spade part score or game with 5-3 fit.		This hand is only just worth opening 1¨. At unfavourable vulnerability I might pass. To make game partner needs equivalent to an opening bid and a fit in at least two of my suits. But the opening bid does help partner find a good lead. For that reason, if the minors were reversed I would open 1§.

Now for some examples of balanced hands:

Hand 7		Hand 8		Hand 9
ªK 10 7 ©4 2 ¨A K 6 §K J 10 7 6	Moon 15 (HCP 14 Good suit 1 Aces and tens 0)	ªJ 7 6 5 ©A K J ¨K 6 5 §A J 7	Moon 17 (HCP 17 Aces and tens 0)	ªA Q ©4 3 ¨A K Q 10 6 5 §K 10 7	Moon 19 (HCP 18 Aces and tens 1)
This hand is too good to open 1NT. I open 1§ and rebid 1NT. Although the doubleton is worth 1 point to open, when rebidding it is not. If partner responds 1ª I raise to 2ª. Note that I count a point for the good suit but do not also count for §10.		I dislike opening weak majors in strong hands and would open 1§ and rebid just 1NT. Yes partner might have eight points and pass but game may still be a struggle with such a weak four card suit.		I open 1¨. I would rebid 3NT over 1© but 3¨ (game forcing) over 2§ and also 3¨ over 1ª.

3. Supporting partner in a suit

When I have four card trump support for partner I add short suit points as follows:

Doubleton 1 point

Singleton 3 points

Void 5 points

This applies whether I opened the bidding or am responding. Obviously these short suit points replace any short suit points I calculated to open in the first place. As a check, I usually apply the “losing trick count”. Consider the following hands:

Hand 10		Hand 11		Hand 12
1¨ 1ª 2ª		1¨ 1ª 3© Splinter		1¨ 1ª 3© Splinter
ªK J 10 7 ©4 ¨A K 6 4 3 §10 7 5	Moon 15 (HCP 11 Singleton 3 Aces and tens 1)	ªK J 10 7 ©4 ¨A K 6 4 3 §K 7 5	Moon 17 (HCP 14 Singleton 3 Aces and tens 0)	ªK J 10 7 ©4 ¨A K J 4 3 §A 7 5	Moon 20 (HCP 16 Singleton 3 Aces and tens 1)
I like the hand and would accept any game try from partner but it is not quite good enough to raise to 3ª. I have 6 ½ losers, normal for an opening bid. §10 is of dubious extra value.		A clear raise to 3ª. I like 3©, a “mini-splinter”, as long as partner can sign off in 3ª with rubbish. I have 5 ½ losers.		A clear raise to game. Too good for 4ª which shows a “pudding” 18 – 19 points, I can see a slam if partner has good spades and two aces. I have 5 losers. If partner bids 3ª (signoff) I bid 4ª showing original slam interest.

How about some hands after partner has opened 1ª?

Hand 13		Hand 14		Hand 15
1ª 4© Splinter		1ª 3ª		1ª 4© Splinter
ªK J 10 7 ©4 ¨A K 6 4 3 §10 7 5	Moon 15 (HCP 11 Singleton 3 Aces and tens 1)	ªK J 10 7 ©4 ¨Q 4 3 2 §K 7 5 4	Moon 12 (HCP 9 Singleton 3 Aces and tens 0)	ªK J 10 7 6 ©4 ¨A J 4 3 §Q 4 2	Moon 14 (HCP 11 Singleton 3 Aces and tens 0)
I prefer the splinter to bidding 3¨ followed by 4ª as that would tend to show better diamonds and partner has no idea how hard his ©K Q 3 or ©A 3 2 are working. Partner needs a good hand to make a slam, say ªA Q x x x; ©x x x; ¨Q x; §A K x or ªA Q x x x; ©A x x; ¨ x x; §A x x. It’s true that with ªA Q x x x; ©K x x; ¨Q J x; §A x the heart splinter will put him off while 3¨ would get him excited but that is a rather specific holding.		A clear raise to 3ª, especially if playing Jacoby where 2NT would show more HCP. I have only seven losers but the aceless hand and lack of intermediates make me downgrade it. With ¨J or §J I would bid 4ª; there is little danger of missing a slam – partner needs too many controls and key cards and would surely go further with something like ªA Q x x x; ©A x x; ¨A K x; § Q x		A clear raise to game. Too good for 4ª which shows fewer HCP, I can see a slam if partner has fair spades and good fits in the minors. I have seven losers as in the previous hand but good controls. Partner only needs ªA Q x x x; © x x x; ¨K Q x; § A x to make a slam.

4. Responding to a no trump opening

Supporting partner who opens 1NT, 2NT or rebids in no-trumps you can add a point for long suits if they are headed by a top honour (Ace, King or Queen).

5. Some final adjustments

If partner has bid a suit (other than that which will be trumps) you can upgrade doubleton honours somewhat. A x is obviously a good holding and worth its full five points. K x is similarly worth four points. Even Q x and J x are now worth more than 2 and 1 respectively. Probably around 2 ½ and 1 ½.

6. The requirements for game and slam

Finally, how does this point count scheme affect your assessment of game or slam prospects? To make game in NT or a major you need 26 (adjusted) points. Players who are accustomed to thinking that 25 is enough for 3NT should realise that my way of counting points will add one for three “ace-tens” and also for long suits. Playing with 13 barren points (no five card suit, no Ace-ten extra point) opposite a similar 12 point hand will not often produce nine tricks. To make five of a minor you need 29-31 and to make a slam you need 33-35. Again, if that seems conservative look at some hands you have played recently where a slam was a fair prospect (55% or better) and see how many were made with 32 or fewer (adjusted) points! Actually, playing pairs in a weak or average game, bidding 55% slams is not a good prospect unless the field is full of wild bidders who bid slams on an off-chance. Even then you will get more tops staying out of failing slams than bidding on.